Search This Blog

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Cocoa Pink is having an early Black Friday sale so I thought I better stop procrastinating and get this review out!

Minkishly, being an awesome friend and the best beauty blogger ever, passed me decants of her Cocoa Pink stuff for me to try out once upon a time. And that's how I got to discover one of the most awesome indie conditioners bath brands ever. After that, I just kept hauling from Cocoa Pink and here is one of my latest hauls:

Had to try everything! This is a group order, so it looks like a super sweet haul!

Cocoa Pink makes all their products from scratch and it shows! They now make some of my favourite products that I can't find mainstream dupes for. Their scents are not all original blends and some are stock scents, but Cocoa Pink is really open about this and denotes which scents are original clearly on their scent list. I'm a huge fan of their honesty!The owner, Beverly, is also great at responding to all your enquiries promptly so I'm a huge fan of this company. I'm really sad my parents are getting rid of our place in LA, just because that means I'll have to haul less from Cocoa Pink!So on to reviews! I'm avoiding reviewing scents that aren't in season, so I'm not reviewing everything yet (ok, and I haven't bothered writing up a review for a LOT of them >.<). Since I noticed that the same scent can smell differently in different forms, I'm reviewing the scents under the bath/hair product I tried them out in instead of all in one row.

________________________________

Hair

________________________________

Argan Therapy Creme Conditioner

So...about this conditioner....Beverly wrote this to me:

"Thanks Francesca! I see you really like the Argan now. :) So glad!
Enjoy,
Beverly"

Well....that may be an understatement, because this is my current collection of conditioners:

Yup. I really love these conditioners. The texture is very runny and doesn't look promising at first, but it's definitely almost as good as the L'Oreal hair masks I often use. It's as moisturizing as a very intensively moisturizing conditioner, but just the slightest bit less moisturizing than a L'Oreal hair mask. If you want moisture but hate the feeling of heavy conditioners, this is it. The gorgeous scent also linger on my hair until my next wash, so that's a bonus! So here are the scent reviews for the different Argan Therapy Creme scents I've tried:

Cake on Mondays

"Delicious sponge cake made with almond extract, vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon, then slathered in cream cheese buttercream frosting. May cause irritation due to the spice notes."This is an absolutely delicious scent. It smells like cinnamon cream! I need this scent in everything!

Note: The cinnamon in this is strong and may cause allergic reactions for some people so please spot test first if you're not sure.

Thai Red Coconut Tea

I was excited for this because I looove the scent of Thai milk tea, but the scent I got is more of this creamy musky conditioner scent. I don't know if it's the suggestion from the name, but the musk makes me want to describe it as a red musk. It smells more like perfume than dessert, and makes me think of a mainstream sort of conditioner. I'm sure the coconut's there, but somehow, it just blends together to smell like conditioner. It still smells great, but I was just sad it doesn't smell like I just crashed into a boba store and got drenched in Thai milk tea.

Violet Kisses

"A floral blend of sugared violets, magnolia and sensual sandalwood on a base of creamy vanilla."
This is a powdery sort of smell and makes me think more of scented powders rather than fresh flowers. It's a bit heavy, but I wouldn't really consider it "old lady"-ish. It's actually pretty nice, and makes me think more of a Korean scented powder that comes in very princess-y packaging and will be littered in texts telling you you're a beautiful princess and calling you "my lady" unironically.

Violet Pixie Dust

"Violets dipped in a sugary concoction of berries, plums, pears, strawberries and a hint of citrus sprinkled with sweet sugar crystals."

Oooh...this is the candied violets scent that I just love! If you've tried Conjure Oils' Succubus, it smells very similar. I'm a huge fan of this scent and need it in EVERY form!

________________________________

Soulmate Hair Rescue Treatment

The texture of this conditioner is more solid and similar to a soft body butter, so it's easier to get used to than the Argan Therapy Creme Conditioners. So this is supposed to be more intense than the Argan Therapy Creme conditioner, but surprisingly, I found it less moisturizing –it's only about as moisturizing as your normal conditioner. It's still good, and it's still moisturizing enough that my colour-treated & bleached multiple times hair stayed normal instead of going plasticky. However, the Argan Therapy Creme conditioner is just better since it actually makes my hair feel so soft! It's probably more than enough moisture for normal hair, and someone who's not a fan of Argan Therapy Creme's texture can go for this instead.

Vanilla on the Rocks

"A rich buttery vanilla."It smells like plain vanilla, only there's a strong waxy smell to it. I'm guessing the waxy smell is the smell of the unscented conditioner. If anybody else have tried the Soulmate Hair Rescue Treatment in a different scent, let me know if there's any waxy scent so I know if it's this particular scent or the conditioner in general.

________________________________

Body

________________________________

Voluptuous Body Butter Review

This body butter is thick and doesn't spread easily, but it gets absorbed in about 5.5-7 minutes, which is not too bad for a body butter. As for the strength of the scent, you can only smell it close to your skin after you apply it.

Just Breathe

"Fresh Vanilla bean, West Indian vanilla orchid, pink lilac blooms, lily of the valley, plump green cactus, exotic fruits softly blanketed in beautiful pale musks."There's that cotton-ish smell I associate with baby rooms, only there's florals in this, making it smell like a baby's room after someone just placed a fresh bouquet of flowers inside.

________________________________

Soft Bubbles Scrub

There isn't much bubbling going on, so it feels more like a normal scrub that you're using while your skin still has soap that's only partially washed off on it. It's perfect if you want more scrub than soap! Here's a gif of the scrub in action:

You will not believe how hard it is to shoot a scrub in action on yourself while keeping it SFW. Oh and if anyone knows a good app/site for making high quality gifs that lets you crop the video, let me know!

Tahitian Monoi Cake

"Vanilla cake batter injected with candied citrus, moist white cake smothered in whipped buttercream icing touched with nuances of Polynesian Monoi oil." The scent makes my brain confused...it's a floral yellow cake scent, and I'm not sure if I want to eat it or decorate my house with it.

White Sugar

"Marshmallow, Vanilla Cream, Sugar Cookies, a drop of Pink Sugar."
I got this as a free sample and was dreading the scent since I noticed that artificial sugar scents often smell like that searing, sweet Pink Sugar scent I hate. This one has that searing artificial sugar scent in it, but the most prominent scent is this delicious strawberry shortcake sort of scent. I actually like it!

________________________________

Others

________________________________

Linen Spray

Well...you spray it on your linen and you can also use it as a hair & body mist. It's pretty straight forward. It's like spritzing scented water on yourself.

Footprints In The Sand

"Cool waves of coconut water, coconut meat, Persian lime zest, just a touch of refreshing peppermint leaves all accented by the soft essence of French lavender buds."Now, I discovered you have to let this one sit. The first time I tried this 3 months ago, I balked. It smelled weird. After I revisited it 3 months later, omg, it's awesome. After 6+ months, it's still awesome but it changed again. So here's my scent review:First Use: There is something off with this smell, that I just can't place. It smells like gumdrops and liquorice (that tends to smell a bit medicinal to me), with the slightest hint of lemons. It's a very refreshing spray and I actually used it on my model to make her skin glisten during a NSFW shoot. She loved the smell, but agreed there's this weird, slightly cough syrupy scent in it.I honestly can't guess what's in it and got a surprise when I saw the scent description. I honestly can't smell coconut, peppermint or lavender in it. I guess the combination just makes this scent smell a bit weird. Left it alone for 3 months:And there's the coconut! Now it smells like a coconut lime cocktail!Left it alone for 6+ months:The lime part got stronger, so now it smells like a beachside lime spritzy cocktail, with some coconut in it. Looks like this is a scent that just needs a LOT of aging!